Pittsburgh Dance Council Reveals 2024-2025 Season

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has announced the Pittsburgh Dance Council 2024-2025 season, celebrating its 54th anniversary.  The 2024-2025 season features an exceptional roster of global award-winning, contemporary dance companies who will elevate our dance experiences and inspire all with their performances at the Byham Theater in the Cultural District.  Returning to Pittsburgh for this 54th season are Dado Masilo (South Africa), Malpaso Dance Company (Cuba), BODYTRAFFIC (United States), Twyla Tharp (United States/North America) and Malandain Ballet Biarritz (France); and we welcome the newest company to the Dance Council’s distinguished presenting history with the area premier of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan (Republic of China).   The Cultural Trust also presents a season special—the return of Ballet Folklórico de México (Mexico)—with a dazzling performance to showcase their national heritage-- through dance, music and traditional costumes.

“We are thrilled to welcome exemplary artistic companies to the 2024-2025 season whose creative repertoire and commitment to sharing their excellence in the arts continues to renew and transform contemporary dance around the world.  We thank our dance patron enthusiasts for their support and look forward to everyone joining us at the Byham Theater for this marvelous season of dance,” shared Sarah Aziz, Interim Vice President of Programming and Manager of DEAI Initiatives, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. 

Pittsburgh Dance Council 2024-2025 Season
Performance Location:  Byham Theater, 101 Sixth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 1522

All performances take place at the Byham Theater, 101 Sixth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, unless otherwise noted.  The Byham Theater, located in the Cultural District, is a venue and project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. 

Performance times begin at 8:00 p.m., unless otherwise noted. 

Hamlet 

Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Dada Masilo (South Africa)

South Africa’s award-winning Dada Masilo is a dancer and choreographer who takes great aesthetic risks, reinventing classic stories so they speak to black identity and feminism, through an innovative dance language that intertwines African movement and rhythms with traditional ballet and contemporary dance genres.   

Masilo transforms Shakespeare’s complex play Hamlet into a universally understood piece of dance, set in urban South Africa. Utilizing Shakespeare’s dark work, Masilo adds dark humour, elegance, and a contemporary take on themes of the play.  

Not suitable for children under 12 years old.  Contains partial nudity, simulated, violence, and strong language.

13 Tongues 

Saturday, November 16, 2024
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan (Republic of China)

Claimed as “Asia’s leading contemporary dance theater” (The Times), Cloud Gate has set out to engage with local history, culture, and subject matter through classical, folk, and modern dance for over 50 years. Cloud Gate combines their practices in Qi Gong, martial artist, modern dance, street dance, and ballet—transforming ancient aesthetics into a thrilling celebration of motion. 
 

Cloud Gate shares 13 Tongues by artistic director CHENG Tsung-lung, a work based on Bangka/Wanhua, the oldest district of Taipei, and legendary 1960s street artist “Thirteen Tongues”. Through imagination and storytelling recalling childhood memories and visual art, 13 Tongues evokes centuries of human endeavor, behavior, and belief.

Mixed Repertory 

Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Malpaso Dance Company (Cuba)

In the twelve years since its establishment, Malpaso Dance Company has become one of the most sought-after Cuban dance companies with a growing international profile. Emphasizing a collaborative creative process, Malpaso is committed to working with top international choreographers while also nurturing new voices in Cuban choreography. An Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions, Malpaso — together with The Joyce— has commissioned original works from several prominent international choreographers, including Aszure Barton, Sonya Tayeh, Ronald K. Brown, among others.  
The company returns to Pittsburgh with an invigorating mixed repertory program. 

Mixed Repertory  

Saturday, February 22, 2025
BODYTRAFFIC (United States)

Led by Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett and based out of Los Angeles, California, BODYTRAFFIC has conquered the contemporary dance world with its stunning performers, technical mastery, and commitment to the most challenging repertoire. Bursting with cutting-edge “vivid theatricality,” BODYTRAFFIC takes the Byham stage with compelling works that embody the company’s energy, sophistication, and sheer joy in dancing. “They’re the kind of people you could watch dance anything all night.” – The San Francisco Chronicle 

Diamond Jubilee - 60th Anniversary Program 

Saturday, April 19, 2025
Twyla Tharp Dance (United States)

 
Twyla Tharp Dance celebrates her 60th anniversary with a coast-to-coast tour featuring her Olivier-nominated Diabelli Variations, set to Beethoven’s masterpiece of the same name, and a new dance to a reimagining of Philip Glass’s iconic Aguas da Amazonia, arranged by GRAMMY Award-winning group Third Coast Percussion. Showcasing Tharp’s uncanny and witty use of music to create work of startling originality and beauty, the two dances once again ensure Tharp’s place as one of the great artists of our time. 

Malandain Ballet Biarritz (France)
Les Saisons (Four Seasons)  

Wednesday, May 7, 2025


Created in 1998, the Centre Chorégraphique National Malandain Ballet Biarritz has become one of the most important companies of the French choreographic landscape. Composed of 22 dancers, and led by Thierry Malandain, the company is known for their power, virtuosity, humanity, and sensuality. Malandain has created over 85 works using his movement vocabulary to create harmony between modern and classical techniques.  In Malandain’s latest work he combines Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and The Four Seasonscomposed by Giovanni Antonio Guido in a bold and innovative program.  

The performance contains partial nudity. 

SEASON SPECIAL

presented by Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, part of 2024-2025 Dentons Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents series

Thursday, March 6, 2025
Ballet Folklórico de México (Mexico)

For over 70 years, Ballet Folklórico de México has been moving audiences all over the world. Founder Amalia Hernández gained recognition as a cultural representative of Mexico and rescued its traditional dances. She projected to the world the beauty of the country through movement, from pre-Columbian cultures onward. Hernández's artistic legacy remains strong thanks to over 100 original choreographies with pristine technical skill, elaborate costumes, and first-rate artists.   

To post a comment, you must register and login.